Pop-up Leeds park is calling for the summer

Two parking spaces in the city centre have been turned into a pop-up park.

‘The parklet’ is on The Calls for the next six months and the idea is to inject a bit of green space into the lives of city dwellers and workers.

It has been decked out with seats and plants and is aimed at creating an outdoor space for people to meet, chat, work together and socialise.

It was the idea of Paul Ellison, managing director of Yorkshire Design Group based in The Calls, who was keen to see the city embrace the concept, which is popular in many international cities. It was made possible by Leeds Business Improvement District (LeedsBID, Leeds City Council and Leeds-based LAAND landscape architects).

He said: “The Parklet not only brightens the vicinity up - we also wanted to create a social space for the community that lives and works on The Calls and the waterfront. There is a good neighbourhood feel down here, but most opportunities to sit and talk are indoors. It enables people to step outside for meetings, to chat over coffee, enjoy their lunch or simply to get out of the office for a short while.”

And Leeds could lead the way when it comes to pop-up parks as he hopes to roll out the concept elsewhere in the UK.

Coun Richard Lewis added:

“It has been great to see so many people using the site already. We hope this paves the way for further innovative partnership working of this kind in the city. Parklets add to the increasingly creative approach by the council, LeedsBID and other partners to making the city centre vibrant, with appropriate animation in the right places.”